THERE WAS SHORTAGE OF BRASS AT THAT TIME

KarabakhOpen
09-05-2007 12:27:20

On May 25, 1988 Maro Margaryan, a poetess and the head of the Maternity
Fund in Armenia, set up the Maternity Fund in Karabakh which was later
renamed Maternity Committee. In the beginning, the Fund carried out
humanitarian activities. Presently the main goal of the Committee is
military and patriotic work.

"After the war we stopped humanitarian activities, said Hasmik
Mikaelyan in an interview with the KarabakhOpen. First, we think people
now can earn their living on their own. Second, we cannot solve major
problems, it is the job of the government. We only provide aid to the
veterans of war in Artsakh, mostly women. During the war we went to
the front and delivered medals right amid the military actions. Now
we visit the military units of the Defense Army, talk to recruits,
follow if the conditions in which the soldiers are kept correspond
to the regulations, and so on. Most importantly, the soldiers need
our presence." The members of the organization are veterans of the
war in Artsakh, service personnel, journalists, wives and mothers of
killed soldiers. The members are not paid.

"We do not even have an office. Our activities are based on the
enthusiasm of the members of the Committee. We are like members of
a big family. The very first medal in Karabakh was our medal, I was
the author," says Hasmik Mikaelyan. "The statute of the medal for
special service was confirmed by the first speaker of the NKR Supreme
Council Arthur Mkrtichyan. Another special thing about our medal is
that the first 2000 medals were forged of the cases we collected in
the fields. There was a shortage of brass at that time."